Rational use of drugs in healthcare services: a sample of tertiary hospital

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at evaluating physicians' attitudes towards the rational use of drugs (RUD) at a training and research hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a training and research hospital affiliated with the Ministry of Health between December 2014 and April 2015. All 424 active-duty physicians were asked to participate in the survey study. Of these physicians, 193 (45.5%) volunteered to respond to a 64-item survey. A total of 193 (45.5%) physicians volunteered to participate in the study. The chisquared test, ANOVA, and multiple logistic regression analysis were used for the evaluation of the study data. RESULTS: Of the physicians who participated in the study, 58.0% were male. Prescriptions were dispensed for 52.73% (± 27.44) of the patients, with a mean of 2.67±0.98 items per prescription. The rational use of drugs was defined as prescribing an effective drug for the patient (85.4%), prescribing an appropriate drug for the patient (84.9%), and prescribing a safe drug for the patient (77.2%). Compared to residents, the prescription preferences of specialists were affected 2-fold by follow-up visit (p=0.010, ? 0.694, CI 1.180 3.396), 1-fold by patient examination percentage (p=0.002, ? 0.022, CI 1.008 1.037), and 3.5-fold by prescribing iron supplements (p=0.001, ? 1.274, CI 1.644 7.774) (R2 0.259, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study showed that tertiary hospital specialists and residents have similar attitudes towards patients, their prescribing preferences and RUD knowledge level. © 2022 Verduci Editore s.r.l. All rights reserved.